Sips from the Cup: Confident Brits head home for well-earned rest

Compiled by JULIE ASH

Britain's GBR Challenge are heading home for a well-deserved break confident their America's Cup preparations are on track.

Their general manager, New Zealander David Barnes, said most of the team had gone back to Britain to help with the new boat GBR 70, which will be launched in Cowes on April 12. The boat will then be shipped to Auckland and the team will resume sailing in early June.

GBR will also add new sails and new rigs to their training boats GBR44 and GBR52 (the old Nippon boats).

"Once we get the new boat up and racing at the end of June we'll phase out GBR44," Barnes said.

Chairman Peter Harrison said the team would build a second hull. Barnes said it was unlikely the boat would be used in this forthcoming regatta, but they were not ruling it out.

"Our intention is to build a second hull so that we have two 2003 generation boats," he said.

"We are plugging away at it, but we'll see how it goes and how the finances go."

It is Britain's first challenge in 16 years. Barnes said the last six months in Auckland had been more about learning than anything else. "The guys have done well. We started sailing in Britain only 12 months ago and we've come a long way."

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Russell Coutts' Alinghi have received an answer from the arbitration panel to their inquiry into the use of centreboards or sliding keels. The panel has ruled they are outlawed for this regatta.

Alinghi's concerns came after they found a paragraph in the 1887 Deed of Gift which read: "Centreboard or sliding keel vessels shall always be allowed to compete in any race for this cup, and no restriction or limitation whatever shall be placed upon the use of such centreboard or sliding keel, nor shall the centreboard or sliding keel be considered part of the vessel for any purposes of measure."

The use of such devices could give a competitor a huge speed advantage. Alinghi had to pay the standard fee of US$2000 ($4500) for the panel's expenses.

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Sean Brealey and OneWorld are doing their bit for the environment.

The Perth school principal, employed by OneWorld to help to teach the children in the syndicate, is visiting schools around the world, promoting ways children can help save the environment. He is aiming to see 20,000 children before the end of the cup regatta. In his sessions with the children, Brealey shows a video of the last Louis Vuitton series, talks about NZL60, the process of building a cup boat and what they are made of.

He then goes into an in-depth discussion about the environment and what can be done to save it.

His session ends with a video about Sir Peter Blake and Blakexpeditions.

The programme is aimed at children between nine and 16.

Brealey is also organising a worldwide art competition which encourages children to express their thoughts about the future. The work will be displayed in the Maritime Museum in November and December during the Louis Vuitton Cup.

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The temperature rose in Syndicate Row when one of Victory Challenge's chase boats caught fire. A syndicate spokesperson said the fire was the result of a "human mistake". No one was badly hurt.

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